AI Solutions on Cisco Infrastructure Essentials
AI; What is Artificial Intelligence and why should I take notice? Honestly it seems that AI is just another catch phrase that is thrown around like cheap swag at a conference. Every day I hear about a new product or feature added based on AI/ML solution to help you make good decisions and increase productivity. Really how is the latest LLM going to help me find the root cause of an application issue? I heard today that all network engineers need is a tool to find the Mean Time Before Blaming DNS (MTBBD), yes this is a borrowed phrase. Have y’all ever noticed that that the fine print of the AI we use always states; Please confirm the answers/output since AI makes mistakes? It was not that many years ago that when someone said they used the internet for an answer, someone would say, go to the library and do some real research, that is still true today. We are all looking for a quick answer and to push the easy button.
I was searching for a way to renew my current Cisco Certifications and found the latest Rev Up to Recert offer from Cisco to earn some Continuing Education credits. The class was in my price range and helped me set a deadline to avoid procrastination; the class is free until March 24, 2025. So, I signed up and began learning.
The material is put together well and has a mix of reading, videos and labs to keep the curriculum interesting. There are five sections beginning on the AI basics, covering the ethics and sustainability of AI along with the hardware and network requirements of AI. I have wondered why NVIDIA stock is gaining so much value. This course opened my eyes to all the hardware and network requirements AI demands and it seems that some really expensive and specialized GPU, TPU and network cards are in high demand. On a side note Cisco and NVIDIA have announced that they have formed a partnership to share technology to make bigger, better and faster specialized cards to meet the current and future AI needs
The sections on how the AI process works and what it takes to “train” the model was interesting to me. The process of Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) the data, adding labels, cleaning and formatting the data are important processes to have the model run efficiently and accurately. The statement of garbage in garbage out (GIGO) seems to hold true and is possibly the new Mantra for AI. There were many new terms for me to learn and to be able to tell the difference in Machine Learning vs Deep Learning and what is the process for the logarithm to make return an answer. What type of learning is better for what type of data set is an eye opener, choosing the right tool for the job can make a difference in the outcome of the project.
I was surprised that a couple of the labs were design scenarios that are similar to the CCDE exam. You are a network engineer who is designing the AI build out for a company, I enjoyed working through the scenarios that told me that I understood the new technologies and how to apply them to a business need. I found this approach to learning to be very valuable and true to real life as a Network Engineer. To be presented with a business need and find the technology that fits the business need. It can be daunting to solve the problem in a cost-effective manner that will be successful.
The 6 labs in the course were put together very well. They are delivered by a in browser simulator and did a good job of introducing me to the tools and how they worked. Using the Jypyter Notebook with integrated AI to help write the code was really useful. Today I do use AI to help me write code and look for bugs. The other labs use Cisco Nexus Dashboard to deploy an AI fabric along with a lab on deploying an open source GPT and using Retrieval Augmented Generation.
I recommend anyone who is interested in AI to spend the time necessary to complete this course. I found the information very useful and worth the time I spend learning.
Cisco U
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Growing up working on the family’s truck farm in Tennessee, Len learned a strong work ethic and valuable life skills. Len is uniquely gifted with the skills and knowledge for home automation and has made daily tasks doable for Natalie so she can use her eyes to turn lights off and on, adjust heating and use the bidet and tv. He also designed their master suite and wet room with roll in shower. All of this adds up to a much better quality of life for Natalie.
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